116 



JOURNAL OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Fruit Trees. Arrangement of. on a Plantation. By the Duke 



of Bedford. E.G.. and Spencer I". Pickering. F.R.S. (Woburn, Xinth Report, 

 1908. pp. 80-86). — The hexagonal arrangement produced an improvement 

 in results as compared with planting on the square, but the experiment 

 was on too small a scale to justify a modification of the conclusion 

 previously drawn — that the slight improvement is not worth consideration 

 in comparison with the cultural advantages presented by the square 

 arrangement. — A. P. 



Fruit Trees. Chemical Manures for. (Jour. Soc. Nat. Hort. Fr^ 

 p. 763, December 1906). — According to the writer, owing to the character of 

 their root system, chemical manures are not so suitable for fruit trees as 

 organic manures. — M. L. H. 



Fruit Trees. Influence of the Date of Planting 1 . By the Duke of 



Bedford, E.G.. and Spencer I*. Pickering, F.R.S. (Woburn. X\n:h Report, 

 1908, p. 73). — Twenty-nine out of forty-two trees planted on November 14 

 showed the formation of rootlets by January 16 following, the plum stocks 

 having made the greatest number of rootlets, and experiments lead the 

 authors to the conclusion that where planting cannot be done till late in 

 the season it is best to defer lifting the trees from the nursery till the 

 ground is ready to receive them. The advisability of cutting trees at the 

 time of planting, even when the trees are planted late in the season, is 

 still maintained (pp. 74-75). — A. P. 



Fruit Trees. Planting above the Ground Level in Heavy Soils. 



By the Duke of Bedford, E.G., and Spencer U. Pickering. F.B.S. (Woburn, 

 Xinth Report, 1906. p. 71). — After ten years' growth there was no appreciable 

 difference between trees so planted and those planted in the ordinary way. 



A. P. 



Fruit Trees. Nourishment of. by Injection. By G. Fron (Jour. 

 Soc. Nat. Hort. Fr., p. 54 ; January 1908 : Figures). — An account of 

 the treatment of sickly and badly nourished trees by injection of sulphate 

 of iron and calcium acetate into the trunk. The operation is admitted to be 

 a delicate and dangerous one, and the results are so far so little assured that 

 it is on the whole advised rather to renew the soil round starved trees or 

 to transplant those in unsuitable positions. — M. L. H. 



Fruit Trees : Ramming- the Soil when Planting. By the Duke of 



Bedford, E.G., and Spencer U. Pickering, F.R.S. (Woburn, Ninth Report, 

 1908, pp. 7-30 1. — The soil was rammed with a heavy rammer till the 

 whole was thoroughly puddled and shook like a jelly at each stroke. The 

 number of cases where this treatment produced increased growth in the 

 first and second seasons after planting, compared with that of trees 

 carefully planted in the usual way, was from four to six and a half times 

 greater than where the opposite was the case, As regards fruiting, no 

 positive conclusions could be drawn. The authors explain the results as 

 being due to the closer contact of the soil aiding in the formation of 

 adventitious root-fibres from the main roots, where there is the greatest 

 store of food material : the fibrous roots, which we have always been told 

 to spread out so carefully, containing but little accumulation of reserve 



